58 NATURE IN ACADIE. 



times in quick succession. It afterwards flew to another 

 tree, settling across a branch instead of on the trunk, 

 and again commencing its cry. 



I came across several white-throated sparrows which 

 skulked persistently in the low scrubby growth covering 

 the more open parts of the granite hills, and only 

 announced their presence from time to time by a feeble 

 chirp, very seldom allowing one to obtain a view of 

 them. While wandering over this rocky ground my 

 attention was arrested by a continual tapping at a little 

 distance which I judged to be occasioned by a wood- 

 pecker at first, but soon found that it proceeded from a 

 little dead stump near at hand, and on making my way to 

 it out flew two chickadees one after the other from a small 

 aperture, there being a little cavity within the stump 

 which the birds had been busy excavating. The habit 

 of burrowing in this species is somewhat interesting, as 

 it shows a close affinity in nesting habits to our burrow- 

 ing marsh tit, although the bird itself appears to me to 

 be intermediate between our great tit and coal tit. 



Another bird that I noticed here was the yellow- 

 rumped warbler, which drew my attention to itself by 

 its almost aggressive chant, uttered from the upper 

 branches of a little tree. This song, which was rather 

 loud and sharp, might be syllabled as chi-chi, chi-chi, chi, 

 reiterated with almost vehement persistence. It is a 

 very trim and active little bird, and not at all shy if 

 unalarmed. 



In some of the more wooded tracts the little black- 

 throated yellow warbler is common about this time. It 

 is one of the prettiest of the North American " warblers," 

 having the upper plumage of a yellowish-green hue, 

 with a very conspicuous lemon-yellow face and a 

 velvety-black throat and upper breast, with also bold 

 black streaks on the flanks. Added to its neat form and 

 tasteful colours it also possesses a pleasing little song, 

 but its ordinary note is a short chirp. 



The " white-bill," or black snowbird, breeds com- 

 monly in Nova Scotia, but it was not until May 21 that I 

 succeeded in discovering a nest among the forest-covered 



